Breathing Issue Question

[mrmikes21]

This is my first Blue tongue although I have been in the reptile hobby for about a decade, I always wanted one and picked up my baby Halmahara about 2 years ago. Since I got him he has sneezed (ALOT) from what I could find I though it was normal, however at a year old he came down with what I thought was an URI, he was on baytril for a month but it did nothing, after about a month of being off it it seemingly went away. Fast forward to now and he has the same heavy breathing, raspy sounds and occasional mouth breathing, so He went back on baytril and again it did nothing. At this point I’m trying to figure out what else could be giving him a hard time breathing and have these side affects. All through out his appetite and demeanor has been the same, extra large appetite and mostly active. He has been on a diet of Whole Earth grain free dog food (Cat food when he was younger) mixed with peas, carrots, kale and bok choy. He occasionally gets crickets or hornworms (maybe a couple times a month) and pinkie mice or blueberries on very rare occasions. Bedding is a 75/25 mix of cypress mulch and aspen, humidity varies a little but sits around 50%, temp is ambient 80 with hot spot in the 90s. He otherwise looks completely healthy, the only thing I can think of would be the bedding being dusty and him breathing it in but I’m not sure if this is realistic. Please, any thoughts from someone with more experience in the species than me would be really helpful! He is everything I heard they would be as a pet an I love him greatly, just want to help him get over what ever is going on!

[splashy07]

Your temps are low for a halm, should be close to a hundred + at basking area with humidity 80+. This could be what's causing a problem. Halmaheras require the highest humidity of all the BTS.

[mrmikes21]

Your temps are low for a halm, should be close to a hundred + at basking area with humidity 80+. This could be what's causing a problem. Halmaheras require the highest humidity of all the BTS.

Thank you for the response, I have an appointment at the vet today to hopefully get a stronger antibiotic. Going to make a plexiglass cover for the terrarium to hold the humidity higher, as far as getting the temp up I have a dual dome with a 150w heat bulb and a 150w day light bulb . The terrarium is low so they are about 18 inches away from the substrate, dont know if I can go lower, should I get a higher wattage fixture?

[splashy07]

You may not need to if you are going to partially cover the top. That will help keep heat in, too. Years ago when I kept halms I had glass tanks back then, I just covered 3/4 of the screen with foil. Worked just fine.

[mrmikes21]

You may not need to if you are going to partially cover the top. That will help keep heat in, too. Years ago when I kept halms I had glass tanks back then, I just covered 3/4 of the screen with foil. Worked just fine.

Foil is an interesting idea, did you use an adhesive foil strip with the reflective side down into the tank? I might want to give that a try!

[Janella]

Hi there, I completely agree with Splashy on this one. Temps and humidity way to low. Needs to be higher as suggested. I also would do away with the aspen part of the bedding. That could be causing part of the problem. I would try perhaps Zilla Jungle Mix or another humidity loving substrate.

[splashy07]

Yes, I missed that...ditch the aspen.
I used plain old aluminum foil cut to fit the area. I don't know about toxicity for adhesives, so I went with the plain type.

[mrmikes21]

Thank you for all the feed back! Little update, vet check went ok, has a URI and is on .3ml of Baytril for the next couple weeks. I made a makeshift insulation for the lid of the tank until I can make a proper lid. Wrapped ply board in adhesive foil (from what I could find the adhesive used is basically gorilla glue and is safe once cured) to cover about 60% of the tank and turned up the humidifier I have for him. Humidity is up to about 70% as of this mourning. He seems a bit worn out from his adventure yesterday and isn't as active as usual however his breathing is much improved overnight. Going to head home from the farm mid day to check on him to see if he got up from his basking spot, though I may be over worrying. As far as the Aspen I will ditch it, not sure why I even mix it in there in the first place and surely it will mold anyway in the high humidity!

[mrmikes21]

Just checked on him, humidity is up to 85% and heat is where it should be but I noticed something I've never seen before. When I walked in he was in his basking spot with his eyes closed when I opened the lid he opened them and looked up at me then after i gave him his meds he went back to that spot and closed his eyes again. Am I over thinking it, is he just enjoying his new hot spot and humidity?

[Janella]

Yes it sounds like he was basking and enjoying the warmer temps.

[mrmikes21]

Got substrate set up went with a 60/40 mix of Forest Floor and Reptisoil, threw in some sphagnum moss for extra humidity retention. His breathing is completely normal now so once he is finished with his meds it looks like he will be 100%. Thank you both for the help! Wanted to post a few pics of Irwin enjoying his new habitat!

[Janella]

Awe, you are very welcome. I am so happy he seems to be doing much better. Setup looks good.